In saucepan combine sugar and water and heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool. Put strawberries and cooled sugar water in blender and blend until smooth. Whisk in yogurt, spices and cranberry juice. Refrigerate until well chilled. When ready to serve, garnish each serving with strawberry half [and mint leaf if desired]. Yield: About 4 [1 cup] servings.

Note: If a richer, creamier soup is desired substitute half and half for the 1 1/2 cup of water. Dissolve the sugar in the 1 cup of cranberry juice instead. Donot heat the half and half to dissolve the sugar.

I've made the soup both ways and both are delicious and refreshing. I doubled it for my Bible study and had left overs for my hubby and me to enjoy afterwards. I poured it in a tall cup for him and he drank it with a straw like a smoothie.

* * *Coconut Cream Pie Parfaits

This was a recipe that recently appeared on Facebook. If you love Coconut Cream Pie then this recipe is for you, but it's not a wise choice if you're watching your calories or fat intake. It is, however, deliciously good!

The recipe can be found by clicking here. Note: Dixie Crystals is a brand name. Any confectioners/powdered sugar will work. Enjoy! ;-)

* * *

A heartfelt thanks to those of you who left comments and wrote to me off-list saying you were praying for my brother. Amazingly, he was discharged from the hospital Wednesday afternoon, less than a week after his stroke. He will have home healthcare visits, and his daughter is staying with him. He was very blessed the stroke didn't leave him paralyzed. The blog clot affected the area of his brain responsible for speech, so he has difficulty talking - especially putting sentences together, and sometimes the words he is able to speak don't make sense, so he will need speech therapy. I visited him on Thursday when the two pictures below were taken. The first is Dan with his sweet daughter, Pam, and granddaughter, Mandy. For someone whose life was spared, he's not looking too happy! ;-)

~ Dan and Me ~

I would appreciate your continued prayers for him. His daughter is in the midst of moving to the Atlanta, GA area, and if Dan is well enough to travel he'll be going with her and her family at the end of the month so she can care for him during his recovery, and perhaps a permanent relocation.

He had A-fib and was unaware of his irregular heartbeat. A-fib causes the blood to pool at the base of the heart and form blood clots that can travel to the brain. The Dr.'s said regular check-ups would have detected it. I share this to emphasize the importance of regular physical check-ups. Dan is very blessed because it could have been so much worse.